We are ANGUS

While Daddy Was Gone

TJ has to stay out of town sometimes for work. When he went out of town recently these are some of the pictures he sent us of where he was:

He knew the kids would like to see these ducklings too.

We spent most of the first day at home doing our "Arch" puzzle learning all about some of the tallest wonders in America on the puzzle and finding where they are in our atlas.

That night I attempted using sponge curlers in Jade's hair. She was distracted with the app game while I did it, but by the time I got her to bed she's pulled all of them out. The curls were cute on her for the 5 minutes they lasted :)

I watched our friends' Dallin and Alera while TJ was out of town too. We all had a great day together dressing up as cowboys and super heroes.

James said he was using the map to get to North Carolina. That's where our friends, Allie and Jeff live who have a daughter named Emma (she's James' age).

*Side Note*
Funny story about that: James is always talking about going to North Carolina to see Emma. He'd never say she's his girlfriend, but they've been "matched" since before birth you might say from the pictures below. Anyway, James was talking about it one day driving in the truck with Dad and TJ says, "James, I used to have a girlfriend in North Carolina too." As soon as he said it I warned him what James will translate that to, "My daddy has a girlfriend in North Carolina."

Allie (prego w/Emma) & Tiffany (prego w/James)

James & Emma first meeting

James & Emma on her blessing day

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

Anyway, the kids had a great morning together and then we headed to Big Sandy, Texas for a special treat. James got to meet some AWESOME CELEBRITIES (or the only kind of celebrities I ever care for my kids to meet) -

JIM BOB & MICHELLE DUGGER!

Aunt Jeanette told us she heard they were in town for a conference in Big Sandy and James was so excited to meet them. We watch their show each week and they're just a great real family to emulate. James also memorized the intro (with all the family members names) for the show after only 3 times watching it. He got to share it with them and Jim Bob videoed him doing it. I think he misses a couple kids names, but overall he really did great memorizing all on his own. I'm just grateful for a wholesome family willing to share their testimonies of God and family life (good and bad) on television. They are some patient parents and I've learned lots of great ideas and watched their examples to help me become a better parent.

Weekly Activities

These are some of the things we do most every "regular" week. Mostly, they are things we look forward to every week.

TV TIME

Jade LOVES "Signing Time" She usually watches one or two of them a week. Often it is when James is at school on Mondays or Wednesdays. She looks soooo much like a little girl in these pictures than our baby girl anymore (*sniff*sniff*).

Other favorite shows include Little Einsteins, Clifford, 19 Kids & Counting, Super Why!, Minute to Win It, Peep & the Big Wide World, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, and sometimes a movie.

LIBRARY STORYTIME...

with friends! We love Tuesday mornings at the Longview Public Library and friends being there makes it even better. Here James and Jade are with Devon, Dakin, Colton, Ashton and Nina.

Some of James' favorite things are the "Bow-Legged Chicken" and "Good-Bye" songs from Ms. Read-A-Lot. She's such a great librarian who does puppet shows and plays her guitar too.

PLAYGROUP

Almost every Thursday we have playgroup with other moms with kids from church. This is one of my favorite parks at Eastman Chemical Co. Luckily, Grandpa Grubbs retired from there so I have his permission to go (and invite friends ;)

It's got all the awesome old school playground equipment along with the new. It's also huge! James is so silly he said, "This park doesn't have very much to do." Crazy kid.

Alera & Jade on the merry-go-round

Alera pushing James around on the turning swings

This is a rocking/push swing James can actually make himself go instead of me pushing him. Although I think Dallin was helping him this time. He just hasn't got the "pumping" motion figured out for regular swings.

James, Dallin, Colton & Alera

Jade just being her cute self :)

SOCCER PRACTICE

This was our last practice for Spring season - Go James!

Atomic Fire Teamates: Xaviar, James, Benjamin, Ross, Ben, Fabian & Ramon

Easter Time

Easter time for us this year was busy and wonderful. We checked out books at the library about Easter things and one was in English and Spanish called - Pascua (Easter). It was very simple, but great to help the kids associate all the "things" of Easter to why we really celebrate. Here are some of the things the book mentioned:

"The white Easter lily (Lirio de Pascua) is a sign of GOODNESS, HOPE, and BIRTH. The lily helps Christians remember the wonder of Jesus' return to life.

"We color the shells of eggs. The egg is a sign of NEW LIFE."

"The rabbit is a sign of BIRTH."

I'm so glad to have these things to teach our kids so it's not all about candy and gifts from the Easter Bunny.

The above "Bunny Bun" we made at the beginning of May from a recipe in "The Friend." James loves getting the new magazine each month and this was the first thing he saw and wanted to try. Lots of work (I'm more of a short time baker), but worth it to do it with the kids and have some fun together. There was a family in "The Friend" that has done it every year for the past 29 years (as long as I've been living), so we might make it an annual tradition too. We made lots to share and took plates of colored eggs (the real ones), Easter shape sugar cookies, and a Bunny Bun to neighbors and friends. Always better to share you know.

On to the many Easter activities that kept us busy...

Our youth met one night to color eggs for fun and fill the plastic eggs for the children's Easter Egg hunt. I love the young women!

Then we had the multiple Easter Egg Hunts. James had one at school Wednesday before Easter and then Thursday we had this one with our playgroup. This was Jade's first year to really go after the eggs herself - so adorable!